A sense of tradition: R.J.W. Selleck and the purpose of educational history

Abstract

This short account of R.J.W. (Dick) Selleck's career and research suggests how he reoriented study of the history of education in Australia. Using a historicist method, he examined educational theories and practices to elucidate the educational purposes they were intended to serve. Through major biographies of leading educationists and biographical studies of teachers he broadened the social and cultural dimension of educational history. More recently he has applied the same rigorous scholarship to higher education.

Keywords:

• history
• education
• Australia

Notes on contributor

Stuart Macintyre was Ernest Scott Professor of History from 1989 to 2013. He has published extensively in Australian history, and is the co-editor of the Oxford companion to Australian history (1998), the Oxford history of historical writing (2011) and the Cambridge history of Australia (2013). He collaborated with Dick Selleck in writing A short history of the University of Melbourne (2003).